Kobe Bryant, the former LA Lakers star and one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has died in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles county.
Over a career spanning 20 seasons, Bryant won five NBA championships and two Olympic gold medals. He was also named an All-Star 18 times before retiring in 2016 as the league’s third-highest all-time scorer.
The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, said: “He will be remembered most for inspiring people around the world to pick up a basketball and compete to the very best of their ability”.
“Kobe was a leader of our game, a mentor to both male and female players,” said Magic Johnson, another Laker great, while civil rights activist Jesse Jackson said: “Kobe was instrumental to so many people. There is a hole in the basketball world and there will be for a long time.”
The city of LA – and the wider sports community – was in mourning on Sunday; we’d like to find out what he meant to you.
How to get in touch
Is there a particular moment that summed up Bryant as a player? His 81 point-haul against Toronto in 2006? The 60 he dropped in his final game in 2016? Was it something he did off the court that inspired you? Tell us in no more than 200 words about it in the form below. We will feature a selection of your submissions.
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